For Allan Boesak, Nelson Mandela was an icon and a friend

Theologian, now teaching in Indianapolis, knew Mandela beyond the struggle against apartheid

9:45 PM,
Dec. 5, 2013

Allan Boesak, a leading figure in the opposition that brought an end to apartheid in South Africa, remembered his good friend Nelson Mandela, upon Mandela's death Thursday, Dec. 5, 2013, at the age of 95. Boesak, 67, a theologian, is teaching at the Christian Theological Seminary in Indianapolis.

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Allan Boesak knew Nelson Mandela both as the beloved statesman who helped bring democracy to South Africa and as a dear family friend who cradled Boesak's children in his arms.

For that reason Boesak, a theologian who resides in Indianapolis, reacted to word of Mandela's death Thursday at age 95 with grief for the loss of his country's founding father and sadness for a man who had lost a dear friend. He considered that legacy while looking at pictures of Mandela holding his daughter.

"For us," Boesak said, "this is just a terribly devastating moment, even though we had been expecting this for the ...